Bloomfield Care Centre and, below, the courtyard. Photo: Photos courtesy of Jonathan Pim.
Carrying on the spirit of The Retreat
Jonathan Pim looks at the impressive new wing of a Friends-run hospital in Dublin
Bloomfield Care Centre, the mental hospital and nursing home owned and managed by Irish Friends, has recently completed its phase 2 development at Stocking Lane in the hills south of Dublin. The official opening was performed by Mary Harney, minister of health, and the launch included a short Meeting for Worship introduced by Alan Pim, clerk of Ireland Yearly Meeting. Phase 2 is a magnificent complex of seventy-eight beds for patients of which twenty-eight have immediately been filled by patients from Kylemore Clinic, which has now merged with Bloomfield. The balance of the beds will be filled during the course of the year as funding becomes available at the Health Service Executive (HSE), which is the state body responsible for health care.
Building works were substantially completed in March 2009. The building includes a day care centre, occupational therapy and physiotherapy rooms, recreational rooms, enclosed outdoor exercise areas, new garden areas, a teaching/computer room and underground parking for staff. On the ‘sustainable energy’ front, gas is being used to generate electricity and this can be fed back into the national grid as appropriate. Roof rain water is being harvested and saved for non-potable use. Much of the funding of around 17m euros (approximately £14.5m) came from the HSE and it is an ‘approved centre’ with the Mental Health Commission.
For most of 2008 there was full occupancy at Bloomfield. There were some seventy residents, now increased to 105 with the opening of phase 2. Five of these are Quakers and fifteen are members of the Jewish community. Psychiatric admissions are at present voluntary but there may be involuntary admissions in future. Most of the residents in Bloomfield are paid for by the HSE.
A full time activities coordinator and occupational therapists continue to involve and stimulate residents and outings are organised from time to time by the Jewish community and these give variety to the daily life. Religious services and interdenominational meetings are arranged by Friends, local clergy and the Jewish rabbi. These are an important part of the Bloomfield Community ethos. Bloomfield has twenty-four nurses and forty-eight care assistants in addition to staff covering management, administration and support services.
Teaching is an important element at Bloomfield. It is an affiliated clinical teaching centre for the students at Trinity College, Dublin. The placing of students in Bloomfield will commence in September and they will be able to use a direct computer link to the university computer centre.
Bloomfield was founded almost 200 years ago, being modelled on the Retreat in York. Irish Friends hope that it will continue to flourish and meet the needs of the mentally ill for another few generations to come.
